The Wind Blows West
by xxD r e a m s
Summary: Lucia's always had a strong disliking for Green Ookido, and she'd been avoiding him until the near impossible reunion. It's been a while, maybe about a year and a half since they last saw each other and they're not little kids anymore.That spells trouble.
1. Chapter 1

Lucia's face was dirty and unusually caked with mud. It felt disgusting, but she pressed on as Cleric and Blaze lazily trailed beside her, the two exchanging narrow glances as to their trainer's health. The two glanced up at her meekly who had managed to get them lost in the depths of the forest. How she had done it? Well, on their trip back from Sinnoh into Kanto once again she flew a bit too far over to where she landed off the map in Viridian Forest. Unfortunately the group had wondered too far in that there were no longer and clearings where her Dragonair could take off into the sky.

Lucia herself hated bug pokemon, so every time one would pop out Blaze would finish it with a painful breath of ember. The pokemon did somewhat pity the poor pokemon that thought it was strong enough to stand up to at least one pokemon on Lucia's team. They weren't beginners, just a trainer and their pokemon who had grown bored because they'd already explored all four countries.

Blaze was a large Houndoom, the fur around his forehead stuck out like chicken feathers, but some claimed that it gave him somewhat of a cool elite look compared to other Houndoom's with their sleek glossy pelt.

Cleric on the other hand was Lucia's original starter pokemon that had evolved into an Umbreon. The two happened to be her oldest buddies and had a special place in her heart that couldn't quite be replaced. After all they had both been with her since she had just about started her journey. Houndoom had been her second caught pokemon(as a Houndour though) and her first ghost type Misdreavus who had evolved into a Mismagius by now.

The thing that signified Cleric and Blaze that were different from other pokemon were their stylish accessories that they'd pestered Lucia into getting them. They did deserve them, but it came to being pricey for Lucia and she had always been cheap and narrow about how she spent her money. Blaze had a red bandana tied around his neck singed at the edges, while Cleric had a red scarf and a pair of his own sandstorm goggles on his forehead from their voyage to the desert in Hoenn.

Now that they were back in Kanto everything should be fine, right? Wrong! Lucia had no idea where she was going. A map was fire kindle in her hands. She was lucky to have a fire type pokemon on her team or she might just have actually used the map by now to spark a fire off.

Lucia plopped down in the grass and groaned. Her jewel blue eyes wide as darkness cascaded over the already dimly lit forest. Blaze had already collected a few logs to set a small fire. He bent down cautiously and let a few flames lick the edges of his mouth catching the dead grass underneath fueling the fire.

Hunger had plagued her enough earlier that Lucia had resorted to eating Oran berries, which as most people should know are NOT edible for humans. Cleric and Blaze had been astonished when she ate ten whole berries. One bite for a pokemon was enough to revive all of its health… Lucia had eaten ten of them. Afterwards, she hadn't been able to talk for a few hours; the sourness of the berry had numbed her tongue that the slightest movement burned.

By now hours and hours after she had had her feast her stomach hurt and she didn't feel good. She hadn't thrown up, but it felt like she was close to it. Unfortunately her body refused to spit up the harmful fruit and cure her of her food poisoning; instead it let her suffer while she had trekked through the day.

Lucia curled up, Cleric on one side of her and Blaze on the other. The two made her feel warmer and somewhat safer in a place she disliked quite a bit. Nothing was going to get through the two champions, let alone any other pokemon that she could unleash from her ring of poke`balls on her belt.

Lucia was a petite trainer. She had thick wavy shoulder length blonde hair(she tucked it under, it's longer than it appears); a red ribbon which she tied in almost used like a head band the ribbon poking out from under her hair. She wore a comfortable button up green shirt, the sleeves rolled up. (It looks like the Crocodile Hunter's shirt, but a dark green) She had a cute khaki colored mini skirt on and thick brown combat boots to match. Around the collar of her skirt was a short red scarf tied like a tie.

She was known pretty much as the Apocalypse Trainer who strictly kept to her dark and ghost type pokemon not including her Dragonair (she needed a pokemon that could learn surf and fly, what should she say?).

She was great in battles, but outside of them she was a clueless blonde who most found cool, but didn't realize she had no idea what she was doing half the time. She had a short temper and didn't like being teased. She was like any other girl her age except for one thing. She hated Green Okido (Gary Oak).

Green as most girls knew… scratch that, ALL girls knew who he was. Lucia had actually lived in Pallet Town and had grown up around him, but had never quite liked him. Why would you like someone who tries to steal everyone's heart with his charm, when he's just a big jerk face? Let's just say that she had never had any good experiences with him. Green had called her a man-woman because she liked wearing army wear. She liked the strong material and her big combat boots because it made her feel strong and it boosted her confidence.

That wasn't the only reason though. Lucia had commonly noticed that he could be kind and charming to the ladies at times, but he was so horribly mean to Red! He had such a cold shoulder and Lucia had concluded that he only cared about himself and his strength. She'd caught how he'd work his pokemon and sometimes she wondered if he ever gave them a break from training. The 'Cool' trainer her ass, he just lived to piss people like her and Red off.

Now other girls on the other hand drooled over him and of course Lucia knew why. Green was good looking, she couldn't deny that at all. He had a spiky mane of brownish red hair, and dark green eyes that could see right through you. Last time she had seen him he'd stood around 5'6", but then again that had been quite a while ago and she did remember him having quite a lanky build. Even if he had changed at all, she doubted it was much at all and she could rag on him all day for the things he'd done to embarrass or make her angry, but her pride kept her lips sealed as she'd cast small glares at him when she did notice him. Most of the time he found her before she saw him, which pissed her off quite a bit, but it had been about a year and a half since their last meet together and Lucia was actually pretty happy about it. No Green? Perfect life. In that time she had changed so much that he'd never recognize her, so she'd be able to catch him off guard before he could get her.

Over the last year Lucia had made it appear like she had chopped off her long mane of golden locks into a spunky yet still cute style. Her fans claimed that when she was angry she was so cute that none of them could resist her (yes she's had the problem when she's gotten mad and had fan glomp her until Cleric and Blaze step in). She had also changed her outfit and she'd grown into more of a woman you could say. She'd developed an actual seventeen year old body compared to when she was fifteen and she still looked like she was ten with no chest or curves.

And here she was, still her personality had not changed in the least bit. She was still the idiot who had no sense of direction, the one who didn't know how to use a compass or a map, damn she was still the short tempered blonde she had always been.

The crackle of the fire brought more warmth to Lucia's cold skin as she tucked in closer to her pokemon. Her stomach was quite a bit unsettled and it didn't look like it was changing for the best any time soon. Her fingers sorted for her poke`dex, maybe it could at least pinpoint to where she was. Though, when she turned it on the signal was blank and any hope of at least finding where she was was lost. Maybe she'd trust Absol with scouting ahead with Blaze for a way out of this place.

As the night progressed Blaze left her side momentarily, it didn't quite seem to phase the teen as she slept as if she hadn't been disturbed in the least bit. The dark Doberman like pokemon lightly glazed his way through the forest. He had caught the whiff of some kind of meat sizzling over a fire and it was only instinct for him to follow the alluring scent being a carnivore himself, it also had stricken him that maybe this would lead him to someone who could help his trainer.

As the Houndoom continued through the brambles his eyes cast upon a roaring fire. Someone leaned up against a broad Arcanine who was lying near the fire. Other pokemon were curled up obviously asleep, well fed, and pretty happy about their current condition. Blaze wasn't in the least bit happy. He had been hoping to snack on something on the way, but he hadn't been able to hunt when he was continuously watching over Lucia. After all the girl seemed appalled the last time he took down a Buneary right in front of her. So when they were low on poke`food he went out scouting for something to eat.

As Blaze tried to move in closer to get help something lunged at him tackling him hard enough to make the decent sized pokemon lurch to the side and almost fall over. Eyes dimly glowed in the moonlight the markings of the perpetrator glistening in the darkness. Cleric? Blaze found himself suddenly puzzled, but he noticed that Cleric's usual goggles and scarf were missing, that's when he bolted out of the trees in front of the fire. Unfortunately that woke up the rest of the pokemon around him. The Pigeot snapped away cawing at him while the Charizard angrily blew flames around, other pokemon roared in fury almost like a wakeup call for their trainer.

Their trainer snapped awake, not even the simplest sign of grogginess as if he had never been asleep at all. Blaze bared his teeth at the boy growling lowly, but he was clearly out numbered.

"Well, well, well. I didn't think there were any Houndooms in the Kanto region, but clearly I was wrong," the guy said as Blaze blinked startled by the familiar voice. He dug his claws into the ground as his eyes quickly sifted over the character in front of him. He has messy brown hair, a dark green button up shirt on a pair of comfortable jeans on as well with sneakers. He looked pretty normal in Blaze's eyes, except for those piercing green eyes.

Blaze threw his head back and howled. "_Doooooooooooom_!"


	2. Chapter 2

Lucia awoke to a start; she swore she heard Blaze howl into the night and when she looked to her side the pokemon was missing. She scrambled around looking for him, she called out his name a few times, but there was no reply. By now Cleric was on his feet trying to help Lucia up who lurched in pain. As good as those Oran berries had been they definitely had done a number on her, she could barely stand without the cramps in her stomach slicing through her like incisors.

Cleric's dark crimson eyes glowed dimly with worry. Lucia fished a poke` ball from her hip and daintily released it from its ball. Dusknoir was released standing high above his trainer; he stared at her in confusion having missed the whole episode where she ate the Oran berries.

Lucia gave his weary eyes. "Dusk I know I ask a lot of you, but Blaze is missing and you help me get there? We'll just follow Cleric, he'll able to find-" she cringed in pain doubling over as Dusknoir automatically reached over to soothe his trainer's pain. He grabbed her with his large hands and picked her up and carried her following Cleric as the Umbreon beckoned hastily wanting them to follow quickly.

X X X

Green watched the Houndoom with hidden amusement; the creature held his ground firmly and didn't show any intentions of backing down even if he was greatly outnumbered. The pokemon flashed sharp needle like teeth at him raising his eyes to level a glare with Green.

That's when his eyes sketched over the bandana tied around the pokemon's neck it puzzled him. He glanced back up to its face. "Either you belong to someone or you have some kind of alter ego in this forest," he said as he pulled an empty poke` ball from his pocket. A Houndoom would be a nice addition to his collection of fire pokemon. They were quite rare he had heard.

As he opened his mouth to order one of his pokemon to progress in an attack when in the trees his Umbreon bolted back in and his Ninetails followed. There was a shriek yelp and a thud as the scraping and roaring of more pokemon fighting filtered through the night air. Houndoom roared as Arcanine was thrown back a few feet, Pigeot lunged at Houndoom but the fire pokemon quickly made up his lack of movement with a ring of fire that spun around him blocking Pigeot from attacking him. The Houndoom flung it at the Pigeot and ran into the forest screeching in fury.

And out into the clearing stumbled a wide eyed girl with jewel blue eyes. They narrowed slightly seemingly glazed over as she breathed heavily holding an injured arm. In her injured arm she numbly clutched a blue poke` ball. "Dragona…" and she collapsed on the ground releasing her poke` ball as a huge pokemon reared up gracefully glaring down at all the other pokemon. She curled defensively around her trainer and glared at Green with dark violet eyes.

Green added it up in his head. A Houndoom and a Dragonair? The two seemed dimly familiar, but the girl who lay in front of him didn't match up with the description he remembered. Lucia had been a girl with long blonde hair; he remembered teasing her about her fashion of clothing. The combat boots she was wearing did seem familiar but he couldn't decide right off the bat like this.

His suspicion was confirmed when out from the trees ran an Umbreon with sandstorm goggles and a scarf on and a Dusknoir came out followed by the Houndoom he had encountered before. He glanced down at her once more, she was very different from the last time he had seen her, before she'd covered her shapeless figure with camouflage shirt and khaki shorts along with those damn combat boots. Now… she actually looked like a girl. Then he was dimly reminded by the grudge she had against him, but he couldn't just leave her on the floor of the forest when it was probably his pokemon that had caused her injury.

Green drew a deep breath and sighed heavily. "Calm down guys, they're friends," he told his pokemon that seemed to bay as the formation in front of Lucia held strong each pokemon watching him narrowly. He glanced down at the Umbreon hoping it would at least remember him. He sorted for its nickname. "Er- it's Cleric, right?" the Umbreon's ears pricked at the name. "It's just me, you know Green? I'm pretty sure you know me because Lucia hates me and it looks like she needs some help. I know the way out so I'll bring her to the nearest town and get her help, how does that sound?"

Cleric narrowed his eyes at Green as the brunette held up his hands in defeat. Usually they were stuck in his pockets as he stalked to his next location, but he had to show Cleric that he had nothing to hide. The Umbreon turned back to his peers and muttered something so that they parted opening a walkway to their trainer that was a heap on the ground. As Green approached he held the urge in to coolly shove his hands into his pockets and go and nudge her with his foot. That would definitely unsettle the already tense pokemon.

As Green progressed his own Umbreon followed him, but as he stepped within the area bordered by her pokemon Cleric hissed making Green's Umbreon back off regretfully. "It's ok," he mumbled to his pokemon. Cleric was just trying to defend his trainer and Green was pretty sure that if anything like this would have happened to him his pokemon would do the same. _But what am I kidding? This would never happen to me!_ He thought breathing out a low laugh that made the pokemon around him twitch as if sensing what he had just thought. _Of course Lucia's reckless, I remember her more clearly now. She's a good trainer, but all blonde and no brains and a temper… I remember that too. She has a _very _bad temper_.

Green bent over and picked her up. She was a dainty thing; on inspection she seemed as if she weighed in more than she looked but over all she was short and petite. No more than a hundred pounds and he wasn't sure if it was from lack of nutrition. _How long _has_ she been in here? She's filthy, she never seemed like a messy person to me. _He thought grimly as he turned and headed over to Arcanine who kneeled down low enough that Green could hoist Lucia onto his pokemon. He was pretty sure that Umbreon could hitch a ride on Dragonair and Houndoom and Dusknoir?

"Hey Houndoom," the pokemon looked at him but didn't quite seem to acknowledge the name he gave it. "You can ride of Pigeot and Dusknoir… you're on your own… I think you're too heavy for any of my pokemon to carry town's not too far from here."

The Houndoom narrowed his eyes and then turned stalking off towards the Pigeot. He'd probably never had flown before by the looks of it, but there was always a first time for everything. The pokemon grabbed onto Pigeot not able to get too much of a firm grasp due to not having an opposable thumb, but he tried anyways. Dusknoir gave a brief nod and suddenly disintegrated disappearing from where he had been. And Cleric, Cleric shot a hostile glare at Green as if warning him not to try anything as he gamboled onto Dragonair's back. She let out a small dark sigh and took off gracefully into the sky from the clearing. Pigeot wasn't far behind as Houndoom yelped as she took off into the sky hanging on for dear life.

Green hastily returned his remaining pokemon and reined Arcanine so that the quick pokemon took off in a hurry.

X X X

Truthfully she felt much better; her stomach no longer ached and burned like it had before. Instead it seemed at ease, maybe a little hungry, but not enough that she wanted to eat. Eating made Lucia think back to those Oran berries she had eaten, she could go a little long without food she decided. She opened her eyes, not much memory remained on what happened that night.

All she remembered was having Dusknoir carry her to where Cleric was leading them to find Blaze when suddenly a Ninetails came out of nowhere and attacked them. The pokemon had overlaid a will-o-wisp and instead of hitting Dusknoir or Umbreon it had hit her arm and it had hurt. Never had she felt such a pain in her life, she now knew what pokemon went through when they battled and she suddenly appreciated the burn heals. It was then after Dusknoir had dropped her in surprise that she had got to her feet with Dragonair's poke` ball in her hand.

She remember seeing someone, but her vision had been failing her by then, growing fuzzy around the edges and blurring out their face. After that everything went black and then… she felt better.

Lucia blinked her eyes; it was dark in the room that she was in. It was warm as well, which was quite the difference from sleeping wedged in between two pokemon in the forest. She had to be in a pokemon center, but who had brought her? Was it likely that the person she had seen had been kind enough to bring her here? She definitely owed them her life, or at least her stomach.

Lucia sat up and in rushed Nurse Joy, she looked at Lucia with worry ridden eyes. "Are you ok? A boy brought you here with a severe burn on your arm and a stomach full of Oran berries. Didn't you know that those are only edible by pokemon?" she questioned seriously.

Lucia gave a nervous but sorry laugh as she smiled at the Joy reassuringly scratching her head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I got lost and I didn't have any food so I made due. You know, survive at all costs? I do kind of regret eating those berries though, I think it would have been smarter to look for any apples," she told the nurse she then flexed her injured arm. "Although my arm feels great! How'd you fix it?"

The nurse smiled meekly. "We used a burn heal."

Lucia's brow furrowed. "Oh, so humans can't eat the berries pokemon can, but we can use the same items they use?" she asked confused.

Nurse Joy laughed, but Lucia was dead serious. She really didn't quite understand that whole concept; in her mind it made no sense at all. Joy put a bundle on the edge of her bed, "Here's you change of clothing. I'm sorry but your other clothes were ruined between the mud and being burned. I hope you don't mind."

Actually Lucia did mind, a lot. Though she wasn't about to throw Nurse Joy's hospitality right out the window, she gave a simple nod of thanks as Joy left the room and then sighed heavily. That meant that her awesome clothes were ruined and she'd have to spend the money to get new clothes. She doubted that what the nurse was giving her was any good at all. It was probably one of those paper dresses they handed out in hospitals and unless there was some new crazy fad going around she doubted she wasn't going to not look like an idiot in the clothes.

Lucia stood up, actually she was in one of those backless dresses right now, but at least this one was made of cloth and not paper. Ack! That would be chilly. She edged over to base of the bed and picked up what was folded in front of her. It seemed as if that the nurse had managed to salvage her black belt and dark red hair ribbon, which was an especially good thing.

She pulled the outfit out to have a maroon dress and black ballet flats. She made a face… a _dress_. Lucia was a skirt girl, not a dress… Especially one that looked short. In her perspective she wouldn't look too good in anything too girly, but you never knew until you tried… and that was what she was afraid of. Lucia put it on reluctantly and glanced in the mirror to get somewhat of a better scope.

The dress somehow fit her like a glove over her small petite frame, the bottom cuffed down quite a few inches above her knees which oddly felt uncomfortable but looked good in the mirror. The dress wasn't sleeveless thankfully, it was actually had a small shirt that went over it, it cuffed down above her torso only to be used to cover up unnecessary cleavage and keep her slightly more warm than she would have been. It was short sleeved and was tailored so that the cuff on the edge would cling to her skin and not allow cold air to get in or warm air to escape. She was specifically thankful for the high black socks that reached up inches over her knees, but cut down a few inches before the dress's hem.

Her ballet flats were comfy, but she missed the heavy boots she used to wear. Quickly she tied her ribbon in her hair on each side a perfect bow protruding; she clipped her belt on around her waist and stared into the mirror again. She looked more Victorian than anything else, how was she supposed to be called the Apocalypse trainer anymore? And why did the pokemon center have such nice clothes to spare?

Lucia walked out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

As Lucia stepped out she was just about glomped by every pokemon she had. Even Absol and Mismagius were out and they seemed to obviously filled in on the story. The blonde giggled in spite of herself and bent down to try and pick up Cleric who openly accepted her warm hug. She then went to Blaze next and gave the Houndoom a big hug around the neck. He glance away shyly but also accepted his trainer's love.

"I'm sorry," she apologized to her pokemon as they snickered at her. Of course they would hear her apology, but they wouldn't accept it because there was nothing at all for her to apologize for. She then gave them a puzzled look. "Who was it who saved me? I mean I have to thank them too!" she said cheerfully as her pokemon dropped to a dead silent crowd. Her cerulean eyes grew wide. "Aw come on guys!"

Mismagius was the only one to step – er, float up. She let out a high creepy giggle and then led Lucia away from the patient rooms and into the lobby. There were quite a few people in the pokemon center lobby, specifically focused around on area. There were a bunch of girls surrounding someone, but she couldn't really see them due to the fact that all of the dumb broads were fixed around them.

Mismagius motioned over to where the focal of people were. "Over there? Really?" she whined as she followed Mismagius and pushed through girls who squeaked and squabbled. She actually thanked her short 5'2" height for once; most of the girls were quite a bit taller than her. As she pushed to the center of the group her eyes nearly popped out of her head she caught Green sitting on the sofa arm on the arm rest lounging lazily his legs spread at he talked to the girls in a bored tone his own Umbreon sitting next to him.

_This is a joke, a huge mistake. Mismagius why did you take me here?_ She thought wondering where her real savior was, she wasn't about to accept that it was Green. Green was much too selfish to ever save her; he would have left her on the ground to rot before he would even think about touching her. Lucia felt her eyes fall into a glare as she clenched her fits by her side holding the explosion of anger inside of her.

Green turned piercing emerald eyes to Lucia and grin unfolding on his face as he nonchalantly seemed to forget about the girl he had been chatting with. That's when he actually stood up and Lucia had to _look _up feeling even smaller than she had been before. How tall was he now? He had to be over six feet tall and that's what set off the rocket in her brain, but with so many people around she glanced over to the side her face turning red with embarrassment, she knew what was coming. He was going to embarrass her in front of all of these girls.

"Lucia! You're ok, I'm sorry about my Ninetails, she got a little out of hand and those Oran berries… that wasn't a very good idea, but I'm glad you're ok," he said and Lucia snapped her head back up to him. She totally wasn't expecting that, she'd been expecting – _Guess what Lucia, you've caused so many problems for me. I had to pick up your passed out ass and bring you here to the pokemon center. Eating those berries was practically suicide and you got what you deserved when my Ninetails used will-o-wisp on you._

And before she could open her mouth to talk she was muffled by Green's chest. He gave her a big bear huge towering over her, it looked more like an adult hugging a small child than two seventeen year olds hugging – or one, it was really all Green. Lucia could hears gasps as some girls ran away in sadness and some hissed in anger and stalked away leaving the two of them alone not including their pokemon.

As soon as the last girl was gone Green quickly released Lucia allowing her to breath as she sank onto the far opposite side of the couch as Green gave her a half amused half cocky grin. His eyes scanned over her in such a way that she crossed her arms over her chest feeling invaded as her face continued to progress through darker shades of red.

"Hey, those clothes look pretty good on you. I'm glad I got those for you, it's about time you start dressing like a girl," Green said leaning back as Lucia let out a long 'Ehhhhhhh.' Her face turned bright red as she resisted the urge to rip her clothes off. No wonder why she had gotten such nice clothes, Green had bought them! Now she felt even more invaded than before. "How about a thanks, you're in debt to me. I saved your life _and _paid for new clothes."

"T-thanks," she said swallowing what pride she had left. "How much do I owe you?" she began to pull out her wallet.

"1,000,000,000 poke`," Green told her as Lucia dropped her wallet the same time her jaw dropped.

"_What_!? I only have," she picked her wallet and sifted through her money. "60,000,000 poke`!" she said counting what she had in her bank account. A billion poke` there was no way she would ever have that much to pay green back. "I didn't think that these clothes would be so expensive," she whined.

Green rose a brow. "Actually most of it's your life, not your clothes."

Lucia had begun fidgeting uncontrollable. She couldn't be in debt to Green, which had to be about the most horrible thing that could happen to her in her entire life. She pulled the money she had out of her wallet. "Here take what I have and I swear I can get you the other 940 million poke` soon," which was a lie. It'd taken her several years to save up this much and it'd take her even longer to pay this off.

Green laughed. "I don't want your money, I need your help," he told her as Lucia cocked her head to the side in confusion. Then why did she owe him a million poke` and he wouldn't accept her money? "Right now we're in Viridian City," he pulled out a nation map and pointed, it wasn't much help for Lucia to see, she couldn't understand even the simplest of maps in any way. "And I'm heading down to Cinnabar Island, I'm not sure but the last time I saw you I think I was still a trainer and now I'm a pokemon professor. I wanted to start with Cinnabar and work my way through where the three legendary bird pokemon are…"

"You want to see Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos?" Lucia asked as Green pressed a firm but serious expression on her. The blonde then burst out laughing, "You're kidding me right? First of all we don't even know if they exist and if they do, trust me we have no chance of seeing them. I've traveled to all of the continents and haven't seen on legendary pokemon in my life and look," she pulled out her ID and four badge cases. She clicked them all open revealed 32 badges and showed Green all of the Hall of Fame records on her ID. "I've defeated all four elite fours; I think I should have seen a legendary by now."

Green just stared at the records on her ID card and then looked back up to Lucia. "This is why I need _your_ help. I can't have any other girl because she'd be drooling over me half the time and I can't be within a mile near Red because we can't work together at all. You on the other hand have a debt to me, don't like me, but you're incredibly strong and someone I think I can rely on. If you help me with this I'll release you from you debt," he offered still quite serious as Lucia contemplated it.

She stuck out a small slender hand. "You have yourself a deal Professor Ookido," Green shook her hand firmly and a smile curled onto his face. For some reason Lucia felt like she had gotten the short end of the bargain, but if it would release her of her debt she'd just have to show Green that these legendaries didn't exist. That was why they were called '_legendaries_'.

X X X

It was only midday when the two were flying overhead Pallet town. "Hey Green! Can we stop here? I want to say hi to my family and catch up with your Grandpa real quick," real quick for Lucia would probably cost Green another day, but then again Lucia hadn't been in Kanto in a very long time so catching up with her family would probably be the nice thing to do.

Green hid a small sigh before giving Lucia a brief nod. She gave a big goofy smile and told her Dragonair something so it started to descend. Green had asked her about why it wasn't a Dragonite and she'd simply replied that she had given it an everstone so it wouldn't evolve. She said she personally liked having it a Dragonair because it had much more of an elegant and graceful look that a Dragonite didn't have.

Green swooped down on his Pigeot as Lucia grinned like a fool at her Dragonair and returned it into its poke` ball. She then clicked out her Houndoom (which Green had learned was called Blaze) and Cleric who seemed very happy to be out of their poke` balls. Pallet Town was a nice quaint place; it was small with lush rolling green hills and houses widely sparse apart. The only reason people ever came here was to get to Cinnabar Island or to see his grandfather. Lucia bolted in a sudden run as she ran in the direction her house was, Green had to pick himself up in a trot to actually keep view of her or he might have lost her. For someone so short, she ran pretty fast.

Lucia stopped at a house and knocked, that gave time for Green to speed up and stop behind her slightly out of breath. The only sign of tiredness from Lucia was the fast rise and fall of her chest as she smiled waiting for the door to open. The door opened and she looked up at her older brother Jacob who just stared at Lucia and then glanced to the side to where Green was.

"Woah, never saw that coming," was all he had to say.

Lucia's ear twitched at what her brother had said. "Uhh, no it's not like that. We're just doing a..." she paused to sort out the right word for this. "An experiment together," she said it was the truth, but Jacob twitched almost sensing she wasn't including the whole thing. Her brother shook his head blonde hair splaying as he did so.

"Whatever, you know I don't care anyways," he said and then turned and called off into the distance. "Whatever's happening between you two, I don't care!" he said throwing his arms up into the air and started to walk away.

Green grinned, "Nothing's happening, it's the same as always," he said throwing his arm around Lucia's shoulder. He watched at her hair stuck straight up and her brother turned to see the two partnered like they were old buddies. He shook his head blue eyes wide, but didn't say anymore.

"Mom! Lucia and Green are here... for some odd reason," he called again as a woman hurried down the stairs briskly. Her blonde hair was pinned up atop her head messily as she ran to the door her eyes pinning to where Green had slung an arm around Lucia.

The blonde teen was close to tearing Green's arm off and pushing him in the nearby bush, but she reminded herself that they had a deal. He just had never mentioned that he'd get away with pissing her off, but it was something that she assumed she had to deal with. "Lucia! Green?" she said as she hugged the two of them and then released them giving a puzzled look between the two. "I thought you hated Green..."

Lucia's face grew red as she laughed loudly. "HAHAHA! Yeah, that's when I was young and stupid, we're working together on an experiment. We just stopped here on our way to Cinnabar Island," she said nervously glancing up at Green tossing him a wild glare.

Her mother's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh joy! I always liked you Green, but every time I mention you to Lucia she wanted nothing to do with you. And now look at you two!" the two failed to mention that they'd only met up two days ago and it was all by fate. Lucia still hated Green and it wasn't about to change. She wasn't about to tell her mother that they were doing a 'dangerous' experiment that could kill them both is the three legendary birds really did exist.

Her mother then ushered the two of them in and glanced around. Green caught sight of the wall which was collected with pictures and trophies. The wall was mainly made up of pictures of Lucia. The top of the album started with Lucia setting off on her journey with Cleric when he was an Eevee. The next picture skipped to when Lucia had gotten all of her Johto badges, Green had to remind himself that Lucia started at the Johto before Kanto. Next to her in the picture was Cleric as an Umbreon, Blaze was there as well as a Houndour, and Mismagius (as a Misdreavus), Dragonair (as a Dratini), and her Sneasel which Green had never actually met.

After that was a picture with Lucia with all of the Elite Fourists and the pokemon master and then it seemed as if the pictures went on from country to country showing Lucia growing and her pokemon changing as well. The only region that seemed to be missing was Sinnoh.

Lucia took a disposable camera from her bag and tossed it to her mother who caught it clumsily. "Those are the pictures from Sinnoh," she told her mother who had stopped petting Cleric and Blaze to stare at her daughter.

"So Cinnabar Island… Why?" she asked the two of them. Lucia seemed to tense up at the question, but instead Green answered for her.

"We're looking for a rare pokemon that's only on Cinnabar Island and we want to see what it can do. We've just decided to go to study it, catching it isn't in our interest," he told her and actually he told her the truth but still left out that it was Moltres that they would first be hunting down. He also didn't include how they were going to search for Articuno and Zapdos as well; he could just imagine the look on Lucia's mom's face if he said they were going after legendaries.

Her mother gave a brisk nod obviously still puzzled in the slightest. That's when Lucia stepped in; she had seemed jittery the whole time. Green had thought that she had been excited to see her family, but he realized that she was nervous about selling out what they were doing and she just wanted to get this over with. "Ok, well mom we really have to be going! We're going to go visit Professor Ookido and then we're off to Cinnabar Island."

"So soon already?" her mother pouted at her, but Lucia jumped up.

"Sorry but yes, I mean we can't expect this pokemon to wait around forever now can we?" she asked as her mother gave a faint nod and Lucia dragged Green out the door with her. The brunette gave her a strange glance as she closed the door behind her. "Trust me, I did good thing making us leave early now let's go visit your grandfather."

X X X

When the two reached Professor Ookido's lab Lucia had drawn the poke` balls she needed to trade in to give to him. After all Moltres wouldn't be hard to keep at bay and she needed to correct pokemon to fight it with or they were both going down to the ground. Lucia was close to skipping into his lab, even though the two were years apart every trainer who grew up around him had a special bond.

He watched over all of her other pokemon while she was out, after all a team could only be made up of six pokemon, not all of the pokemon you could carry. Green let her go ahead as she found his grandfather sitting in a chair sleeping.

Lucia wasn't going to stand for his sleeping, they were only here for a few hours and she wasn't going to let him sleep it away. Lucia bent down flexing her fingers far out behind her. "Pro-fess-or Oo-ki-do!" she pronounced each syllable separately as he snapped away jumping to his feet spinning around looking for the person who had woken him.

"Lucia? … GREEN?!" the old man look like he was near to fainting as Lucia gave him a bear hug choking the air out of him. He pat the seventeen year old's head like a dog as she settled down and released him. "Why are you two here… together?"

Was everyone seriously going to ask them that? Lucia quickly explained to him to what the two of them were doing, there was no point in hiding it from him. He'd probably just wish them luck on it rather than tell them not to do it. After she finished explaining she then took out her poke` dex and handed it to him.

"I thought you might want to download all of the data, I've seen a lot of pokemon over the last few years. More than you've probably expected," she said as Green's grandfather smiled and took her poke` dex from her hands and walked over to one of his big computers and hooked it up. As he hooked it us the pictures of the pokemon flew by quickly downloading it onto the computer's memory. The last pokemon it stopped on made both Green's and Professor Ookido's eyes budge out.

"Darkrai? Where on earth did you see this?" Professor Ookido cried out as the poke` dex explained all the data it collected on the dark type pokemon. "Isn't this pokemon a legendary in Sinnoh?"

Lucia shook her head as Green pressed emerald eyes on her like sharp daggers; she had claimed she had never seen a legendary pokemon and here on her poke` dex was a Darkrai. "Yes and no, Darkrai is part of many folklores but some claim that there is more than on Darkrai which I don't believe. It's just a misunderstood pokemon that's race has been wiped out because people have thought it to be a pokemon of evil, when it means no harm in reality."

"What gender?" Professor Ookido asked scanning through the information.

"Genderless."

"How did you manage to ever see one let alone know about its past?" Green asked skeptically.

Lucia sent a frigid glare at him; he doubted her didn't he? "Darkrai is a very special pokemon that I actually_ met_ in Sinnoh, it can speak human. It picked it up, it's very old," she told him narrowing her eyes. "The only reasons it's part of legends is because the creature sparks imagination and people from the middle ages would paint pictures of Darkrai giving people nightmares when they slept under the shade of a tree, when historians look back at they call it a legend, but in reality Darkrai is real and thriving."

The two glared at each other before Professor Ookido let out a cry of excitement. "That's amazing Lucia! If Darkrai isn't really legendary because there used to be more of them maybe that's what happened to all of the other supposed legendaries, the last of their species! I can't believe you stumbled across this pokemon, this is a huge discovery, especially since it can speak human as well."

"Well you know, I kind of love dark and ghost type pokemon so Darkrai interested me," she said giving a faint smile. She then snapped her fingers. "Speaking of pokemon, I actually need to give you some of my pokemon to hold and I need to take some out. Do you mind?" she asked politely.

"Mind? My girl you've just made a huge discovery, of course I don't mind!" he said as he stepped in front of her. "Who am I receiving and who do you need?"

"I'm trading in my Mismagius, Absol, Dragonair, and Dusknoir for my Sharpedo, Luxray, Tyranitar, and Weavile," she said handing in the poke` balls, which was nearly all of her pokemon Green noted. She must have really been taking this seriously; she picked types that would have the advantage over the legendaries they would be studying.

A Sharpedo was dark and water, which meant she was probably going to surf over to Cinnabar Island; it would be strong against Moltres. Then there was Luxray which would be strong against all of them due to the fact that they were all flying weakened by electric types. Then Tyranitar would probably dominate over the three pokemon, Articuno and Moltres would be at a huge disadvantage and Zapdos somewhat, and then Weavile was to weaken Zapdos. She really had thought it over quite well.

Professor Ookido took the poke` balls and went to exchange them as he left Green turned to Lucia. "I thought you didn't believe in legendaries," he grumbled crossing his arms at her.

Lucia rose a blonde brow at him. "I don't, did you not head me explain? Darkrai isn't a legendary; there were more than one of it before."

"_Was_," Green pointed out.

"How do you not know there are more out there?" she huffed angrily "I don't think you've seen a Darkrai now have you?" she hissed jabbing him in the chest in a finger.

Green caught her hand. "Don't do that," he warned.

Lucia snatched her hand away from him. "Do what?" she growled turning away from him.

Green wrapped his arms around Lucia tightly from behind. "Don't make me angry because I can make your life a living hell," he hissed to her and released her as Professor Ookido walked back in with Lucia's poke` balls.


	4. Chapter 4

Green and Lucia had traveled to Cinnabar Island in complete silence. Lucia rode her Sharpedo but kept in line with Green, she couldn't speed off just because Sharpedo could go 75 miles per hour in the water, and she had to stay with Green so she wouldn't get lost. Green on the other hand rode his Lapras going at a steady speed, not too fast because pissing of Lucia by dragging out the trip was some of the pay back for jabbing him so hard in the chest.

It wasn't comparable to anything that he could do, but she'd only mildly pissed him off. Something about Lucia wanted to make Green grab her and shake her and tell her to shut the hell up forever. He knew on the other hand that this would set her into an uncontrollable rage that his wasn't even to be compared to. Then on the other hand something inside of him also wanted him to grab her and just claim her as his. It was kind of like a love hate relationship, the two could get along at one moment and one wrong sentence made the two hate each other.

It wasn't as bad as Green and Red; Green couldn't stand being near that idiot. Red just wouldn't shut up when he was around him, at least Lucia wasn't as pigheaded at him and Green could somewhat keep himself under control around her. Well besides when she asked just about the most annoying questions like – "Are we almost there?" she whined.

Green's eye twitched slightly as he glared at the water ahead. "If we were we would see an island, do _you _see an island?" he asked harshly as Lucia shrank back her Sharpedo barking something that he couldn't understand. His Lapras groaned in protest as if agreeing with the Sharpedo.

Lucia inclined her head to whisper something to Sharpedo. "Hey buddy you got instructions?" the Sharpedo nodded in reply. "Good, let's beat them there. It'll be easy, one, two, three!" the Sharpedo suddenly took off with such a jolt of speed that Green could hardly believe that Lucia actually somehow managed to hold on. She was tough; he'd learned that by now and over the years. As small and dainty as she looked she was headstrong, confident, and always looked at the bright side of things even in the worst times. She didn't like having other people seeing her weak or knowing her weaknesses she wanted to seem like she was reliable and could do anything she was requested without backing down. Lucia wasn't a chicken, but she was an idiot, but a good kind of idiot.

Green took his time not rushing his Lapras in the least bit. They reached Cinnabar a mere twenty minutes later, the beach was collected with tourists and people splashing in the water playing. Lucia was on the dock. She had her Cleric, Blaze, and her Luxray out with her. Her Luxray stood only a few inches shorter than her which Green found slightly amusing. As Green stepped onto the dock he returned his Lapras and shoved his hands into his pockets.

Lucia was talking to some younger trainers who had dark type pokemon with them. "The key to raising dark type pokemon is to befriend them well, because they don't like listening unless you have a really strong bond with them. The good thing about them is that they become really strong when you train them well, trust me it's worth it. As you can see I have quite a bit dark type pokemon as well as ghost. I'll let you in on a secret," she winked at them. "Ghost pokemon are easier to raise because they're extremely playful pokemon, the only reason most don't train them is because some find them to kind of be creepy. But the cool thing is that normal attacks don't work on ghost pokemon. Unfortunately I don't have any of my ghost pokemon with me, just all dark not including Luxray, but he looks like a dark type pokemon doesn't he?"

The children were beaming at her as she talked to them. "Yeah! I've never seen a Luxray before since they're from Sinnoh, but you're so cool Lucia you've been to all of the countries!" the girl with the Murkrow said.

The boy next to her knocked her hard on the side of the head. "You idiot, you've also forgotten that Lucia's defeated all the elite fours. She's not cool, she's the best!" he told her as his Poocheyna yipped in reply. Lucia smiled friendlily at the children giggling at the two fought.

"Oh come on you two don't fight, just because you aspire to be a dark type pokemon trainer doesn't mean you have to cold and mean. You can be like me and-" Green hit Lucia on the head like the boy had done to the younger girl. The blonde flinched and went to hold her head. "Hey what's the big idea? Green! Why'd you do that?" she huffed angrily rubbing the spot he'd hit furiously.

"We need to get going," he said blandly as Lucia puffed her cheeks out, but held her tongue in her mouth pouting at Green. "We can't fool around all day, there isn't much sunlight left." And Green was right; the sun was already starting to set over the horizon leaving only an hour left of sunlight. Lucia gave a small sigh and turned back to the children.

"Sorry but we have to get going, I'd spend more time but Green's a big bully," she grumbled as the children's eyes grew as wide as saucers.

"Green, as in Green Ookido?" the boy asked and Lucia nodded without sparing Green a look. "Why are you two traveling together? Are you on a big adventure?" he asked awaiting a liable answer.

"Yeah, none that's any of your-" Green started to answer when Lucia the heel of her foot on his toes making him stop long enough to wince in pain.

Lucia crouched down to be level with the two children. "Yes, we're going on a big adventure, but we can't bring you along so don't ask and it's because we're going to find the pretty bird pokemon that lives on this island. Do you know where it is?" she asked giving them a kind smile. Green had never ever seen Lucia so nice and for once he'd wish she was like that to him. It had to be that she liked children more than people her actual age.

The girl twiddled with her pony tail. "Well, if you're speaking about Moltres then you have to be careful."

Lucia smiled widely. "Of course, I mean seeing a Moltres or even trying to get close to it without the proper precautions would be catastrophic."

The boy shook his head. "No, she means that Team Rocket has been lounging around here the past few days and are after Moltres. More and more keep coming and we're all afraid that they might capture Moltres and take it from our island. Please, please, please Lucia can you stop them. If they take Moltres why would people want to come to our island anymore? That pokemon is one of the main attractions here, people always come thinking they'll see it," the boy said.

Lucia took his hands in hers. "Don't worry; I'll kick Team Rocket's butts. They're just bullies that need to be put in their place; I've dealt with their kind in other places. Like Team Magma and Aqua and Team Galatic in Sinnoh. They're getting a little too old for these tricks anyway I think someone should let them know it's time to retire."

The two children smiled at her brightly. Green grabbed Lucia's collar and began dragging her off as the two children thanked her and gave their goodbyes. "I promise!" she called to them holding up her right hand as if swearing to God. When the two were far enough away Lucia thrashed her way out of Green's hold and glared at him. Darkness was beginning to fall over the tropical haven.

"What did you think you were doing?" he growled at her running a hand back through his hair keeping his anger and bitterness under control.

"Talk to fans_ and_ getting information from locals. Children are the easiest people to talk to because they can't lie as well as other people, and when they admire you they have more reason to tell you the truth when you talk about something. See? We found out that Team Rocket was here trying to catch Moltres, I don't think we would have found that out until we met them face to face unless we exchanged greetings with the locals. Trust me, I know what I'm doing," she told him her blue eyes sharp and level with Green's.

Green felt his lips twist down at her as he shoved her against the wall, this time Lucia didn't resist instead she watched her head held high and her eyes dark. "Know what you're doing, have you ever searched for a legendary pokemon before?"

Lucia kept her lips pressed tightly for a moment before answer. "Yes and I found it. I _know_ what I'm doing," she repeated and shoved Green off of her and then dusted herself off. "And I thought I was the one with the temper, at least I can keep mine more under control than you can ," she said running her fingers through her short blonde hair.

Green's temperature dropped back down to normal as he shoved his hands in his pockets. He followed Lucia as she took a trail that led up onto the volcano that attracted people from far and wide. A few minutes later he finally spoke up as she was pushing through brambles and branches letting them fly back and hit him. "At least I don't mope about something a while after it's happened," he pointed out as Lucia turned to face him. This time it was her turn to get mad.

"Oh please! I-I-I-" Lucia's face had turned so red that Green was wondering how it hadn't exploded. Cutting off from where she had started babbling she threw her head up and screamed loudly that the whole forest echoed and flocks of Pidgies flew out from branches. "You just live to piss me off don't you?!" she roared. "I haven't done anything but try to help and this is how you repay me? Being a complete asshole! You should have just left me in the forest and maybe I'd a gotten back up and walked to the next town. Unfortunately you saved me and you will probably never let me live it down! I really can't wait until I repay you this stupid debt so I can move a million miles away and never have to see you again!" she then turned and began back through the trees, this time she stopped flinging the branches and just ducked under them and sped herself up so that Green was left farther and farther behind.

Green on the other hand was thinking, thinking of all the times he'd made Lucia angry today. It was easy to make her mad, but now he'd done it. She was touchy and he'd touched upon a spot that Lucia wanted left alone. What was he supposed to say? Sorry? If he said that Lucia would think there was something wrong with him, but if he didn't say sorry then she'd probably be harder to work with and Green knew that if the two came across Team Rocket, they had to work together, not hate each other.

Green sped up and caught up enough that he could grab Lucia's wrist. He spun her around to apologize expecting bright fiery eyes to be glaring at him, but instead her head was put down her bangs cascading over her face. She didn't look up. "I'm sorry ok, it's just… We're opposites and it's hard not to get mad at each other. You understand right?" he felt like he'd been apologizing more than he had ever done in his entire life time in the total of a few days.

"I hate getting mad, but you just make me so mad and I can't help it," she said a raspy tone to her voice as she rubbed her eyes.

"Are you crying?" he asked, he tried to put the amusement out of his tone but instead it was still pain to hear him smirking at her emotional breakdown. Wide glassy eyes glared up at him as she turned and stomped on. The brunette then placed his face in his palm, maybe she was right, maybe he did live to piss her off even if he didn't mean to.

Green continued onwards after Lucia, he wasn't going to say anything else. For if he did he had a feeling that she wouldn't hold back on punching him out cold, when he caught up Lucia was setting up camp for the night all of her pokemon out, a stream wide enough to be sufficient to Sharpedo's size was nearby. The pokemon looked at him with those dark eyes and even if they weren't meant to be intimidating they still were.

After Lucia finished up starting the fire with Blaze the two turned and made somewhat of a dog pile Lucia stuffed in the middle of all five of her pokemon. Green didn't bother with trying to suck up to her; instead he sat on the opposite side of the fire, cold despite the flames roaring in front of him. He glanced down at his palms and sighed, this wasn't going to work at all if they couldn't get along.

X X X

When Green woke up it was only because Lucia was bent over him poking his face. "Wake up sleepy head we don't have all year," she huffed as she stood up hands on hip. Cleric and Blaze were back out glancing down at Green with a superior look, like they were better than him. It was the kind of gaze that Green was known to give other people or trainers he thought weren't as good as him. It was probably about the first time he'd ever gotten that gaze from someone else.

Green groggily sat up, the fire was out and Lucia was all packed up all of her belongings back in the shoulder bag she owned. The blonde stepped away and turned getting ready to leave without Green. The brunette heaved himself to his feet and dragged himself up the volcano's slope, it was clear to assume that Moltres probably lived near the crater of the volcano so that was where they were headed.

It wasn't going to much longer of a hike, maybe about an hour or two and they passed by rather quickly. When the four reached where the trees parted leaving a vast open area in the distance a camp made itself visible. It was a large camp appearing as if it had been there for a while, if Green didn't know any better he would come to think that it was a group of researchers.

"Hey, come on lets go investigate over there. There's bound to be someone who can fill us in on what activity has been happening around here," Green told Lucia as he stepped ahead of her and began walking. Someone stepped out onto the boundaries of the camp and Lucia cursed and tackled Green to the ground.

"You idiot!" she said pinning him down to the ground trying to keep low hoping that the person hadn't spotted them.

"Get off of me!" Green hissed writhing around in Lucia's grasp. As strong as she was she was still a girl who was about a foot shorter than him. He easily pushed her off of him, but Lucia reached and grabbed a fist full of his hair and pulled him back to the ground.

"That's Team Rocket, if they spot us we're-" the grunt turned and ran back into camp. "You've done it now! They've spotted us!" she said jumping to her feet letting go of Green's hair. "RUN!" she shouted and bolted up the steep slope of what was left of the volcano. Green watched as Rocket grunts poured from out of the camp. She wasn't being a sissy, she was being smart. Even if they both could defeat all of the grunts, where would that leave them?

The grunts followed them up the slope panting some falling back as the two barely missed a step. When they reached the top of the volcano the crater full of bubbling lava behind them Green turned to Lucia. "Plans?" he rasped as a crazy grin spread over her face as the Team Rocket grunts rapidly approached.

"Yes, release all of you fire type pokemon."


	5. Chapter 5

Green was startled by her plan, to get this close to the volcano's edge and then release all of your fire type pokemon. Though the brunette listened and released Ninetails, Arcanine, and Charizard from their poke` balls as Blaze stood his ground a crazy grin mimicking Lucia's on his face. The grunts stopped and starting releasing their pokemon.

"So what are your plans now? You're cornered," one of the grunts said stepping up.

Lucia let out a mocking laugh. "Do you know who I am?" she asked and then looked down at Blaze and Cleric. "Cleric dark pulse, Blaze fire blast," the two pokemon nodded at each other and with a simple swoop of grace combined the two attacks sending a swirl of black and red at the grunts. The two pokemon played it out like they'd done it many times before, but Green doubted that Lucia made a living out of beating bad guys.

Green could barely keep up with what Lucia was doing, he had always thought that he was the trainer who had things up his sleeve, but when Lucia got into the zone that usual blondness was replaced with such… brilliance that it didn't make itself clear until after it happened. The combination move had knocked down the front line of pokemon, but more were being released. Green quickly commanded away him fire pokemon as Lucia turned and said something to Cleric as Blaze roared sending thick flames enveloping from his mouth at the grunts.

Cleric nodded and then opened his mouth wide darkness collecting at its edges. Shadow ball, but it was much bigger than the average shadow ball. Instead of hurling it at the grunts Cleric directed it down at the crater and into the lava. It seemed like a pointless thing to do, but Lucia stood back up and suddenly jumped into the volcano's crater.

"Lucia!" Green shouted almost automatically for some reason, he ran to the edge letting his pokemon fend off what was left of the grunts. Cleric and Blaze seemed preoccupied for some reason and when Green went to look over the edge suddenly Moltres came up flaring from the crater making him stumble back falling. He stared at the bird, it was monstrous and on its back was Lucia tucking in and grinning for some dumb reason.

The pokemon opened its mouth to call out and everyone stopped fighting staring at the bird. Lucia pointed at the grunts and the mighty bird flared its wings and spat fire towards them. The grunts scattered their pokemon being seared by the near magma like substance coming from its mouth. They ran ditching all current efforts returning their pokemon. When the last one left and the flames were left to smolder Moltres landed letting Lucia get off shaking dust from her hair and clothes.

The pokemon stood there peacefully wings tucked by its side and gazed levelly at Green. "Approach it slowly if you move in too quickly he'll take it as a challenge," Lucia said her blue eyes still cooling down from her last adrenaline rush. Green slowly began towards the two who calmly stood there. Moltres watched Green through narrowed eyes watching every movement carefully. "He's not very human oriented. After all, all the humans he's seen have usually been trying to catch him," Lucia glanced up at the mighty bird and stroked the side of its head.

Green took another step, a bit too close for Moltres's comfort at it flared up batting wings squawking. Lucia turned and stepped in front of the bird. "Back off Green, back off!" she said as she held her hands up in front of the bird trying to calm it. The pokemon reared up a few more times this time more uncontrollably and darkness flooded into its eyes and when it looked Green noticed it was no longer the kind gaze, but the dark one it had been giving the Rocket grunts.

Moltres was about to slam down on Lucia when Green snatched her away and the mighty bird batted itself up into the air circling for a few moments trying to calm itself down. "I think you should have backed up too," Green said shakily as Lucia laughed nervously in his grasp obviously shaken by Moltres turning on her. "I thought you didn't believe in legendary pokemon."

Lucia let out a quivering breath. "I guess I do now."

"How did you know that it would come out of the volcano?" he asked.

"According to legend Moltres lives in the lava of the volcano, so I thought that if I disturbed the lava that it would come out. I wasn't entirely sure though, so I just trusted my instincts…"

"_What_?! You mean jumped over the edge not knowing if Moltres was there or not?" he demanded as Lucia gave a small laugh indicating that he was correct. He squeezed her tightly making her squirm. "Don't do that again, you scared the crap out of me."

"Green! Stop I can't breathe!" she said as Green loosened his grip and she relaxed. Reckless was the only word he could come up with. Reckless and stupid, but stupid in a smart way.

"Don't do it again, promise me," Green breathed resting his forehead on the top of her blonde head. He hadn't realized how much he actually cared about what happened to Lucia, but seeing her jump into the depths of the volcano's crater had nearly given him a heart attack.

"I promise, I promise," she said and Green let her go. She turned to him giving a weary smile at him as she looked into the sky to see Moltres circling them. Lucia gazed up at Moltres as well her eyes shimmering as she looked back down to Green. "I think he might let you study him, as long as you don't hurt him or anything."

Green hadn't really been thinking about studying Moltres, his mind had been stuck on the fact that his heart was racing faster than it should have been. Something was coming, he could feel it. He snapped his head back up to Moltres and a net was suddenly shot at the pokemon making it scream in pain, but this net was not made of something that could be burned. The bird toppled down to the ground screaming as Lucia yelled something and went to run after to where Moltres had fallen.

Green grabbed her and pulled her into his chest as she screamed and sobbed for the bird. It was as if Moltres's pain and fury was Lucia's. The blonde writhed in his grasp, but Green refused to release her as people dressed in Team Rocket outfits stepped up. These weren't grunts though; these were probably elites of the team. Even if Lucia was a four time champion of the elite four her anger would probably get her defeated. They hadn't been spotted, so it was only safe to tuck in and wait.

As one of them drew a purple poke` ball Green's own eyes grew wide. A master ball. They were going to capture Moltres. That was when Lucia ripped herself from his grasp and blindly set off in a full sprint as the four members of Team Rocket. Cleric and Blaze were by her side in a flash and Green watched in horror as she actually lunged at one of the Team Rocket elites fists at the ready. How was she expecting to win? To beat them down?

"Let him go!" she shouted, but the tall woman slapped Lucia and she fell to the ground her shoulders shaking. Blaze lunged at the woman and bit down on her leg roaring in fury at her. Cleric held its ground flaring up at any of the Rocket members that drew to close to her. All Green could see was Lucia getting herself beaten up by Team Rocket and it was for this pokemon she was putting herself out for. When a male kicked Lucia in the gut Green couldn't stay put anymore.

He wasted no time in reaching Lucia's side. Cleric was on top of the guy who had kicked Lucia giving him a little piece of dark pokemon payback letting nightmares fold out in front of his eyes. The two who weren't being attacked looked at Green waiting for him to do something. "Leave her alone," their eyes were cast down darkly at him. "Please."

"Call off her pokemon," one said as Green reluctantly looked up at Cleric and Blaze who were now fighting the other two elites' pokemon.

"Cleric, Blaze stop," he wasn't sure if they'd listen, but the two turned and gave him defiant glares, but one glance at their trainer sent ears flattened up against the back of their heads. They stood to the side. The one with the master ball stepped up and tossed it at Moltres a terrible look on the pokemon's face made Green feel horrible that he was just sitting there.

They threw the master ball picked it up and left. Green quickly kneeled down next to Lucia who had a swollen cheek and a smidge of blood from a busted lip. As he leaned her up she opened her eyes which were horribly glazed over, her eyes dark at the night's sky. "Did Moltres get away?" she rasped.

Guilt panged in Green's chest. He'd sat there and let them capture Moltres and what was he suppose to tell Lucia? That he let them do it? She'd be furious. "No," he told her, he watched her face contort painfully. It fell a thousand miles as if she were a child finding out that someone close to her had passed away. "I'm sorry, but it was the only way I could stop them from hurting you."

Lucia closed her eyes tightly tears collecting at the corners. "I would have been fine," she sobbed. "I can heal, but now they have Moltres! There's only one Moltres and-"

"There's only one Lucia," Green told her firmly, he sat her up more. "What you did was stupid, it's over ok? When I asked you to promise you did and yet here you go being reckless again. You promised and now," he drew a deep breath trying to keep his composure. "Now they have Moltres and there's nothing we can do. All we can do is try to get to Articuno before they do, but until then I want you to stop sulking, it's over," and with that Green wiped the smidge of blood from her lip and stood up wiping it on his pants.

He thought Lucia was going to challenge his opinion, but instead she stood up rising like a fallen hero. She rubbed her lip again smearing fresh blood on her face. "Ok," she said sternly, it made Green's life somewhat easier. "I'm sorry," she said and gazed up at Green with a look with such trust that Green felt like he hadn't earned it. Then she embraced him for the first time, but it wasn't because she was sad or angry. It was as if she really meant it and Green hugged her back relief flooding him. "I'm sorry," she muttered again as Green stroked her hair.

"It's ok," he mumbled and felt her incline her head to look at him. He glanced down to see her battered, but not defeated.

"To Articuno?" she asked.

"Yes."

X X X

About a week later the two of them were ready to embark on their journey to the Seafoam Islands. They'd gone out ordering warmer clothing for the cold icy islands that held host to the legendary bird of ice, Articuno. For some reason Green felt as if him and Lucia had gotten closer, the whole experience with Moltres had brought their fighting and arguing down to none and they could actually be near each other without wanting to piss off the other.

The whole 'awkwardness' seemed newly opened and Green could talk and joke around with Lucia without her taking it offensively and Lucia could say things where Green wouldn't find her to be an idiot about it. There were times where he sighed at her and sometimes flicked her when she was being stupid, but Lucia's usual reply was a small apologetic laugh for whatever she had done.

Green made sure not to mention Moltres to Lucia anymore, she seemed specifically touchy on the topic and he only spoke of it if she brought it up. The only time she had was when she was been speculating on why Team Rocket would want the three legendary birds. The two had come to the usual conclusion. World domination and capturing those three were just the first stepping stone of their plans. So Articuno was a must in making sure it got away safely.

Green made sure to zipper his coat and pull his gloves on, it would be quite cold if he let out any of his body heat. Lucia held out his hat. "Wouldn't want to be forgetting this, now would you?" she asked as Green gave a small smirk and took the hat from her. Green had on a dark green (haha ironic) jacket with black snow slacks on and snow boots. He also had a black hat and gloves on, a nice warm scarf tucked in his jacket.

Lucia on the other hand had on a long white coat that cuffed down at her knees. It reminded him of being somewhat fancy, but suited someone as small and doll like as Lucia. She had white stockings on and a warm pair of blue snow boots on, a fluffy white hat atop her head and white mittens accompanying them. The fur lining it seemed to do its job keeping her warm as her cheeks were rosy.

Unfortunately being dressed so warmly almost made you want to pass out when you were still on Cinnabar Island. The two sluggishly climbed onto Green's Lapras and took off, wanting to get away from the tropical island as soon as possible.

"Plans for when we get there?" Green asked Lucia.

The blonde was quiet for a moment. "Well, once we head into the ice cave I suggest you lead the way since I have no sense of direction, but I advise we be careful. The cave we're going into is only cold because of the glacier melting in there. It'll be very dangerous because if we're on the glacier and it breaks, well if we fell into the water we could get hypothermia."

"Like I hadn't realized that," Green said blandly and Lucia let out a small sigh. The two drew into silence as Lapras continued onwards towards the Seafoam Islands. When they approached rocks scattered themselves among the shallows making it hard for Green to steer Lapras in the right direction. As they reached shore Lucia stared up at the opening of the cave a chilly breeze passing right through her as she shivered. Green put an arm around her and looked down at her, "You ok?"

She nodded. "I just have a bad feeling about this place."


	6. Chapter 6

The two started into the cave, Lucia didn't release either Blaze or Cleric. It was much too cold for either of their likings and it would only result in something bad happening, so they two were kept neatly in their poke` balls. As they walked Lucia and Green kept close together, it was cold, colder than they had expected and keeping close together made the two of them feel slightly warmer.

The ice cave was just so large and vast; it was a sparkling haven of slick ice floors and icy sickles pointed wickedly from the ceiling poising themselves to fall if disturbed. It was beautiful in a yet a deadly way, the light reflected off the ice showing such pretty flickering. Yet the dead stillness of the cave sent shivers down their spines as they continued on, on the search for Articuno.

There hadn't been any apparent signs of other people, so Green had come to assume that Team Rocket hadn't yet made their way here yet… that or either the two of them had come too late. The passed through another opening onto thick ice, a vast area opening up the sun catching through what seemed to be a glass like area of glass. The ice was a dark blue indicating that it had ever so been frozen.

"Articuno should be somewhere around here," Green said as he left Lucia's side to inspect up ahead. Someone's cackle split through the air making the two of them jump, Lucia defensively drew a poke` ball at the ready. A woman stepped out waving a master ball in her hand as if she had captured Articuno already.

"Oh look, it's the two love birds from last time. Here to witness me take Articuno too?" she asked her heels clicking on the ice, but she kept perfect balance.

"You can go ahead and try, but this time we're prepared," Lucia spat as she held her own poke` ball as if challenging the woman to a battle in silence.

"Oh girl, puh-lease you can't defeat me," she said cockily as Lucia flashed a smirk too cocky for her own good.

"We did never get to introduce ourselves before did we?" the blonde asked as the woman's eyes flashed in amusement.

"No, we didn't. I'm Yuuki Ikimono and little girl you're going down."

Lucia let out a harsh scoff. "Lucia Namikaze, nice to meet your acquaintance, but I beg to differ. I'm seventeen and you don't look much older than me," she said flashing another grin before spinning her poke` ball on her index finger.

"Ah a pokemon master, I've heard of you… but you don't possess a legendary now do you and no pokemon is comparable," Yuuki said as Lucia's eyes grew round like saucers.

"No! Don't release Moltres in here!" she shouted, but it was too late Yuuki had arrogantly released Moltres from the master ball and the pokemon flared up sending flames in all directions. Quickly Lucia released her Weavile from its poke` ball. "Weavile we're in deep shit, but we're in an ice cave so this should world out to our advantage. I need you to use surf-"

Lucia didn't get much further when Moltres spiraled out of control sending fire aimlessly. She ducked out of the way shielding herself as Weavile did the same. Yuuki cried out obviously trying to get the pokemon under control dropping the extra master ball she had with her. Moltres turned and focused itself on Green as Lucia's blue eyes widened in fear.

"GREEN!" she cried out as the pokemon blasted away at the ice beneath him melting it and sending him into the glacial waters. Lucia didn't wait as she jumped to her feet and ran over to the edge at where the ice had crumbled giving way. Green bobbed back to the top of the water drenched. She reached down and heaved him up with the help of her ice pokemon.

He flopped onto the ice shivering uncontrollably. Lucia glanced to the side to see Yuuki calling back Moltres and then made a run for it. Her mind raced unable to process fast enough what was happening. "I-I'm so cold," Green chattered his wet hair plastered on his pale face, his lips blue. She couldn't worry about Moltres or Articuno, Green would die if she didn't help him.

"You need to take off your wet clothes," she ordered as she started to tear at his jacket. She ripped off her own mittens feeling uncomfortably hot. She unzipped his jacket pulled it off and tossed it to the side. She did the same with his shirt, hat, boots, and gloves and made him kick of his snow pants leaving him in damp pants he had had on underneath the snow pants. His shivering had gotten more uncontrollable as Lucia peeled off her own jacket and wrapped it around his shoulders and glanced at Weavile for help. The pokemon made a hugging motion.

Lucia pulled off her turtle neck so that she was in her tank top and then opened the jacket and wrapped her arms firmly around Green. "Wh-what are you doing?" he asked as Lucia could feel his slow heart beat, his heavy damp breathing against her.

"Saving your life," she said as she pressed her hot skin against Green's freezing skin.

"Y-you're so warm," he said stiffly wrapping his arms around her making her shiver. His arms were freezing too. Lucia reached dimly for her belt and grabbed three poke` balls and quickly released them. Luxray, Blaze, and Cleric came out startled to find themselves in the ice cave and surprised to see Lucia sitting on Green's lap a coat wrapped around the two of them.

"Come on you guys, please help he fell into the water and he'll-" she couldn't bring herself to say die, so instead she swallowed. Her pokemon seemed to understand as they came around the back of green and pressed their warm furry pelts against him. Blaze made sure to get a good chunk of Green to keep warm as the brunette's breathing became steadier and his heart beat slowly bringing itself back up to a strong hard beat.

"You saved my life," Green said as Lucia suddenly came aware of where she was and the awkwardness in it. Here she was sitting in a tank top, skirt, and stockings on Green's half naked lap. It made her face turn a wild red stinging painfully from the sheer cold around them.

"Yeah, I guess I did," she said her mind elsewhere. She glanced up at him their eyes locking for a moment, blue against green. Neither of them broke the gaze, instead it was intense and a message travelled between them unspoken.

"You don't have to accompany me anymore… your debt is paid. A life for a life, right?" Green said as Lucia glanced away. "You can move a million miles away and never see me again like you said you wanted to," he told her as her face flushed guiltily. "Or we can still be partners," he said as she turned her head back up to stare at him.

As if a kinetic force pulled them together Green inclined his head to kiss Lucia who had a palm on his bare chest sweaty and hot from being too close to Green. Green pulled her closer to him and tilted his head deepening the kiss as he heard Lucia moan quietly. It had to be ironic that the person she had sworn to herself that she hated so much was no kissing her and she wasn't resisting him. When the two of them parted they rested their foreheads against each other's breathing heavily their breath visible in air.

Lucia pulled herself up and away from Green and stood up walking towards where Yuuki had dropped the master ball meant for Articuno. "Sorry Green, but you're going to have to continue to Zapdos without me. I have something I have to do."


	7. Chapter 7

Green's face had fallen when Lucia had said that. "What? Why?" he asked getting to his feet, Lucia's jacket still wrapped around his shoulders. For once he'd been with a girl who hadn't gone lovey dovey eyes over him and he had never thought that he'd like her or she'd like him, but he was wrong. Something about her made his heart race, something about her wanted to make him have her near him all the time and it'd taken a while for him to realize it and now she had to do something. "Lucia, please don't go," lately he'd been saying that word a lot and it was all for her. Never so much in his life had he apologized or even begged and it seemed like he'd been doing it more often and often.

She bent down and picked up the master ball. "I have some unfinished business elsewhere, but I promise you that I will come back… eventually," she told him and for a moment Green thought she was talking about Team Rocket, but there was something in her eyes that told him it was something he didn't know about. She shoved the master ball into her bag and turned back to Green. "I promise."

Green stepped up and hugged her to his chest tightly. "You better promise you idiot. I want you to come back in one piece," he said releasing her as she glanced up at him with a bright smile.

"Oh I'll be fine, but for now I guess we'll let fate decide when we meet next," she said.

Green smile weakly. "I look forward to that day."

_Two Months Later…_

Green had thought Lucia would have come back by now. Unfinished business shouldn't take this long… right? He'd have dreams about her, but those dreams would contort into nightmares where she was drifting away being taken by a ghastly pokemon whom's face he could not decipher. He did though continue on with going on the search for Zapdos. He'd stayed in a pokemon center nearby where Zapdos was said to be roosting and as many girls that would confront him, he would brush them away coldly his mind only focused on the one person who had deprived him of sleep.

Green made his usual trip over to where Zapdos was said to be only to be disappointed by the fact that after a while he still hadn't seen it. It wasn't until earlier today that he merely stumbled upon Team Rocket grunts nearby starting to set up a base camp, which meant that… they were planning on capturing Zapdos next. Later that day a bad thunderstorm blew in, any trainers nearby rushed to the pokemon center and bunkered in, but Green decided that it would be best to see if Zapdos came out around now to see if the pokemon would come out.

As Green took his usual root a few grunts stopped him as Green gave them each a cold glare and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Yeah?" he asked harshly awaiting for them to tell him he had to leave and never come back because they were conducting experiments that the public wasn't allowed to see.

"You aren't allowed to be around here," one grunt said.

"Says who? You're not the government, there for I can come and go as I want," he said throwing them a sharp emerald gaze. One of the grunts stiffened as Green let out a small mocking laugh. "What did you think you were going to do? Stop me, nice try but you fail," and Green continued walking coolly until a flash of lightning blinded him momentarily and in front of him stood the four elites. He stared at them blandly waiting for them to mock and say whatever they had to say.

"Where's your little blonde friend?" one of the guys asked as Green gave them a narrow glare keeping his mouth shut. "Did she dump you? She was kind of cute, I think I might just try and meet up with her some time," he said as Green's eyes flared angrily.

"Leave her out of this," he said as he kept his hands in his pockets clenched in fists. If he didn't keep his cool he'd probably end up sucker punching one this guy.

"Oh, so she did leave. Do you know where she went?" the guy asked as Green pursed his lips. She had never specified that. The guy then pulled out a badge and held it in front of his face. "Did you know that she dropped this last time we saw her? Do you know what this is?" Green focused his eyes to read 'Pokemon Detective'. "Yeah, she was in the whole police and investigation industry, bet you didn't know that," the guy tormented.

Green thought back to when Lucia had said she knew what she was doing and how she'd faced Team Aqua, Magma, and Galatic in the other countries. Of course she had faced them, she was a detective and yet she hadn't felt it was necessary to touch upon the subject with him? "Oh so you didn't know," one of the woman said cattily. "I wonder what else you didn't know about her."

It didn't matter that Lucia was a detective; she couldn't have been hiding anymore… could she have? What if all of that had just been a mask, an act? If you were a detective wouldn't you play as someone different so you weren't exposed for what you were? What if he really didn't mean anything to her and when Lucia had left she'd gone back on duty rather than to do whatever else she had claimed? Green's head spun with possibilities as he didn't want to think that all Lucia was had been a lie.

"Do you want us to put you out of your misery?" the woman asked placing a finger under Green's chin and tipping it up. "You try to act so cool, but deep down inside you're frail and now that you've discovered that that girl you liked hasn't told you everything you thought you knew, how do you feel? Like that cold heart of yours is chipping away on the inside about to shatter?" she asked as Green held his breath eyes closed. That was exactly how he felt, but he wouldn't show it.

Green opened his eyes to cast daggers at the woman as he slapped away her hand. "Don't touch me, you don't know me at all," he growled as he drew his Charizard's poke` ball preparing himself for a battle. The woman laughed in amusement as she beckoned at the others to join in with her to crush Green and get rid of him quickly.

It was a suicide attempt, but Green was feeling risky. He could do it if it just put his mind to it. He released Charizard from its poke` ball as it roared and stood firmly on the ground towering above everyone. He was about to command his pokemon to attack when a bolt of lightning seared closely nearby setting a tree on fire. He jumped back in surprise and then a cry from up in the air caused him to look up to see the mighty bird peeking from out of the thunder clouds.

The elites smiled as if this was what they were waiting for and Green had a feeling that they didn't want him to get in the way. He wasn't going to sit back and watch like he had last time though. As they exchanged excited glanced Green wasted no time in catching them off guard. "Charizard use heat wave," Green told his pokemon. Heat wave wasn't exactly fire, but extremely hot breath that could inflict a burn. It reminded him almost of like an invisible fire that was hard to see.

As Charizard directed it at the group they all cringed in pain one woman screaming in agony. It had to hurt to be under such unbelievable heat, but it was now their turn to feel what their pokemon would feel when they battled his Charizard. One of the elites let out his Aerodactyl and leaped onto its back launching into the sky. Green quickly gamboled on Charizard's back and took off into the sky. He wasn't about to let this guy take down Zapdos.

The two circled each other momentarily in the sky. "Use dragon breath!" Green ordered as his Charizard obediently chased down the Aerodactyl and started letting green flames pour from his mouth. The pokemon quickly darted from side to side, but Charizard quickly caught onto its pattern and nabbed it on a wing sending it in a weak flight too weak to be able to hold itself and its trainer up.

"Quickly Aerodactyl use hyper beam on Zapdos!" he called out as the pokemon unleashed a fierce red beam at Zapdos while the other elites waited on the ground for Zapdos to fall so they could capture it. Green would never make it in time to block the move, but just as he thought it was hopeless the hyper beam was blocked with a shimmering green wall. The Team Rocket member cried out in surprise as he had to land and when the smoke cleared Green could hardly believe his eyes.

Lucia was on the back of Darkrai. Her hair had fallen down below her shoulders and bright blue eyes smiled brightly in triumph as the elites stared at her and her pokemon in disbelief. "Come on Zapdos, get going!" she shouted as the pokemon cawed and flew away. Darkrai then took her bringing her down lower until the two of them reached the ground. The blonde jumped off his back and stared at them her hands on her hips. Green quickly landed and stood there with his Charizard staring at her. She'd changed ever so slightly over the past two months.

Her hair was so long that there was no way that she could have grown it that much over that period of time. She was wearing a fitted dark blue dress; it wasn't anything like the maroon one that Green had bought for her. It had kind of a dollish look to it, long fitted sleeves, white cuffs, the skirt of the dress pulled out quite a bit, but the bottom of the dress stopped at her knees. Around the waist was a white and blue stripped ribbon tied in the back. She had black stockings on and black Mary-Jane slippers and overall with the white bow in her hair she looked like a frail porcelain doll and more correctly a dark type pokemon trainer.

She smiled at Green as he stared at the Darkrai, she hadn't been lying after all. This must have been the unfinished business she had been talking about. "Dark void," she told Darkrai as the pokemon nodded and extended a ghoulish hand as darkness swathed beneath the elites and their pokemon sucking them into a dark sleep. "Finish it was dream eater," she told it and the pokemon simple answered by letting its eyes glow eerily as the sleeping foes writhed in agony plagued by nightmares.

Lucia then turned to Green. "I'm sorry for being gone for so long, but capturing Darkrai isn't something you can do in one day," she said throwing a tired smile at him. For some reason Green didn't feel mad, he felt… understanding. "I promised I'd come back, and I kept my promise," she said. Green turned away from her for a moment to walk over to the elites and pick up the badge one of the guys had had.

"I believe this is yours," Green said handing it to Lucia; he then placed his hands in his pockets as she flipped the badge in between her fingers.

"Thanks! I've been looking for this," she said as she stared at it confused and she then looked back up at Green. "Sorry I hadn't told you, I didn't think it was really that important. After all it is just a job," she said giving another half smile at Green.

Green shook his head, she was right it was just a job just as his was to be a pokemon researcher. "No, it's ok I understand. Although I never thought that you'd be the kind of person who'd become a detective, never thought you were smart enough," he grinned at her as Lucia accepted the challenge openly with a small feisty grin.

"Oh really? Well if you couldn't figure out I was a detective then I must be a pretty damn good one," she said as the two drew closer. Green wrapped his arms around her and it no longer felt awkward or unexpected, it felt right.

He reached down to kiss her but paused. "Wow did you grow?" he asked his lips turning up.

"Maybe an inch or two," Lucia shrugged as they kissed Green entangling his fingers in her long glorious blonde hair. "Maybe three," she breathed and Green laughed his lips just mere centimeters away.

"Are you ready?"

"For what?" Lucia asked.

"For Suicune, Raikou, and Entei?"


End file.
